it's been a bit silent around KRISTAL since the last public release in June this year. The good news first: KRISTAL is alive and well and we are currently preparing the second strike Now the (not-that-)bad news: It will take some more months of heavy development to prepare a stable version for public release.

So, what's going on behind the scenes:

KRISTAL 1.0 was based on a very simple architecture I've started about five years ago. It has several structural weaknesses which limit what we could reach with the product on feature side. Therefore the decision was made to set up a completely new infrastructure for KRISTAL 2. And this is where we are today. Major parts of the engine are being rewritten, the application currently is a huge and complex construction site.

Features

It is far too early to make any commitments on the final feature set of KRISTAL 2. One of the bigger things we are preparing is MIDI and Virtual Instrument support. Additionally, we try to implement new usability concepts not yet seen in similar audio applications (sounds promising, ey ).

Cross-platform

KRISTAL 2 is planned as a cross-platform product for Windows and Mac OS X. Btw, the basic application already runs on Mac OS Most of the code is written in a platform-independent manner, but as always the devil's in the detail. We do not expect to release for both platforms simultaneously. The PC version will come first, because it's the main development platform and the Mac version is planned to follow later on.

Commercial or Freeware

As already mentioned earlier, KRISTAL 2 is likely to become a commercial product. We think this is the right way to go to be competitive in the long run. There are some companies interested in distributing the product, but so far nothing has been signed. Additionally, a fully-functional basic version will remain free for private use!

We'll keep you up-to-date at this place with any further progress made.Stay tuned & have nice holidays!